Buying or selling a home in the Greater Philadelphia Area requires a cool head, a steady hand and a real estate expert you can trust.

by Bill Donahue

In some ways, a good Realtor is like a skilled travel guide, always knowing what’s around the next corner, which pitfalls to avoid and how to get a client from Point A to Point B unscathed.

Two years ago, in March 2016, my wife and I decided to move from our longtime home in Montgomery County. We were ready for a change of scenery. Although our first choice had been to move out of state, either to North Carolina or Colorado, in the end we chose to stay close to home.

We reached out to the Realt or who had helped us buy our first home more than a decade earlier. To our disappointment, our former Realtor had more or less retired, b ut she recommended a colleague.

The moment this individual stepped through our door, we knew we were in capablehands. Whereas we wanted to wade slowly into the waters, this Realtor motivated us to take bold steps forward.

“We’ll photograph your house next week so we can st art bringing people through,” she told us, more or less.

Even before then, she asked us questions: about what we were looking for in a ne w home; about our current lifestyle; about what we wanted our new life to look like. Soon enough, the recommendations started to pour in, and at the same time we were preparing our home for walkthroughs. We quickly learned (or, better put, remembered) that the real estate business is not for the faint of heart. While we were having prospective buyers walk through our home, our Realtor had us out doing the sa me to homes that had just come onto the market. Early on, it seemed every home in our “sweet spot” was being swooped on almost just as quickly as it became available.

All the while, our Realtor assured us we would find what we were looking for and everything would fall into place. She was right. In almost in a blink, we received a terrific bid on our house, and about the same time we fell in love with a house near Red Hill, a mere stone’s throw from Green Lane Park. When it comes to real estate, though, sometimes things don’t go according to plan. We bid on the home— and the homeowner accepted— but the inspectionprocess revealed some issues we hadn’t foreseen, including a septic system that would need to be replaced.

While our existing ho me had a buyer, we found ourselves back on the hunt. Two days later, our Realtor had us on a walk-through of a just-listed home south of Quakertown. Our jaws dropped when we walked through the door. It had everything we could possibly want, which meant it would sell quickly . Our Realtor advised us to put in a strong bid and also state our case directly to the homeowner. Long story short, we got the house. The rest of the process went by in a blur, everything moving along as smooth as silk.

Today, we couldn’t be happier. Our home overlooks the Perkiomen Creek, on a quiet stretch of tree-lined road shared by a few farms. We didn’t think we would find such a place in the Philadelphia suburbs, and we owe it all to our Realtor, whose name can be found on the following list of our 2018 Top Realtors. These are the men a nd women our readers (and, in one instance, this magazine’s editor) trust to help them stay on course when it comes to navigating the labyrinth of buying or selling a home.

2018 TOP REALTORS

Looking to buy or sell a home and not sure where to begin? Start here.

Jamie Adler

Long & Foster

Real Estate

Blue Bell

(215) 643-2500

Kit Anstey

Berkshire

Hathaway Home

Services Fox &

Roach, Realtors

Wester Chester

(610) 430-3001

Binnie Bianco

Long & Foster

Real Estate

Conshohocken

(610) 941-1008

Jeff Block

Berkshire Hathaway

HomeServices Fox

& Roach,

Realtors

Philadelphia

(215) 790-5662

Maria Castellucci

Long & Foster Real

Estate

Blue Bell

(215) 591-5600

Michele Cooley

Berkshire Hathaway

HomeServices Fox

& Roach, Realtors

Philadelphia

(267) 571-5511

Danielle Davis

Weidel Real Estate

Doylestown

(215) 348-5600

Evan Davis

Berkshire Hathaway

HomeServices Fox

& Roach, Realtors

Haverford

(610)

645-3881

Frank L. DeFazio

Berkshire Hathaway

HomeServices Fox

& Roach, Realtors

Philadelphia

(215) 440-2093

Sheila D’Elia

RE/MAX

Ambler

(267)

246-3998

Allan Domb

Allan Domb Real Estate

Philadelphia

(215) 545-1500

Liz Facenda

RE/MAX

West Chester

(610) 719-1700

Patricia Harvey

RE/MAX

West Chester

(610) 675-7100

Sherry W. Jones

Coldwell Banker

Hearthside, Realtors

Doylestown

(215) 345-6244

Anne E. Koons

Berkshire Hathaway

Home

Services Fox

& Roach, Realtors

Cherry Hill, N.J.

(856) 795-4709

Susan Langenstein

RE/MAX

Doylestown

(215) 348-7100

Nancy McGuire

Maryland Heritage

Properties

Chestertown, Md.

410-778-9319

Jaimie Meehan

Keller Williams

Doylestown

(215) 340-5700

Carol Muredda

RE/MAX

Jamison

(215) 343-8200

Jennie Sheridan

Keller Williams Realty

Collegeville

(610) 792-5900

Lavinia Smerconish

Berkshire

Hathaway

HomeServices

Fox & Roach,

Realtors

Bryn Mawr

(610) 520-3708

Hazel Smith

Berkshire

Hathaway

HomeServices

Fox & Roach,

Realtors

Newtown

(215) 860-3224

Lottie Spinelli

Weidel Real

Estate

Doylestown

(215) 348-5600

Matt Spinelli

Weidel Real

Estate

Doylestown

(215) 348-5600

Anthony Stipa Jr.

Keller Williams

Realty

Blue Bell

(215) 646-2066

Ann Marie Walsh

Keller Williams

Bensalem

(215) 638-3830

Heather Waters

Coldwell Banker

Hearthside,

Realtors

Newtown

(215) 499-9666

Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Life Magazine, March 2018.

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